I am not quite myself, I think.But who here is quite himself? And yet there is a way in which we are all more ourselves than ever, I suppose.

Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.

I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself.

To lose everything is not the worst can happen.""It's starting again, from nothing, with nothing, " Otah said."Is exactly this, " Maj agreed, then a moment later. "Starting again, and doing better.

"Tut tut child " said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral if only you can find it."

I was 40-something years old. I hadn't shown any entrepreneurial spunk up until that point.

Gentle in what you do, Firm in how you do it

The picture of a shadow is a positive thing.

I have a lot of cooking tools. In fact I have a whole drawer full of knives. Cooking tools, especially cutlery, are my toys.

The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the essential nature of things.

Nobody has the power to take two steps together; you can take only one step at a time.

Is calling English our national language racist? Are we at that point?